A free occasion at San Antonio’s Japanese Tea Backyard at Brackenridge Park is celebrating the mild artwork of inexperienced tea on Thursday, April 10. A metropolis e-newsletter guarantees historical past, private tales, and extra, plus a go to from Robert Hellyer, creator of Inexperienced with Milk and Sugar: When Japan Stuffed America’s Tea Cups.
The e-newsletter attracts consideration to Eizo Jingu, a watercolor artist who lived in San Antonio and who “performed a pivotal function in selling Japanese tea.” He labored on behalf of the Japanese Central Tea Affiliation to pair Japanese tea with meals each at dwelling and in eating places — notably with sandwiches — to make it a standard a part of eating.
The e-newsletter attributes the household’s on-premises home-turned-restaurant, the Jingu Home, with introducing inexperienced tea ice cream to the USA for the primary time. Jingu’s daughter, Mabel, did not point out the date when talking in regards to the innovation in 2007, but it surely was no less than earlier than 1938 when Eizo died.
Jingu additionally helped design the Japanese Tea Backyard beginning in 1915, so he’s straight answerable for a lot of what guests will expertise on April 10, greater than 100 years later.
Inexperienced with Milk and Sugar explores some extra historical past of the relationships between Japan and the USA that led to completely different tea preferences in every place. It is not so simple as what every populace likes ingesting; these habits had been shaped by socioeconomic traits, racism, and advertising and marketing, based on the ebook’s description through the Columbia College Press.
“That includes full of life tales of the folks concerned within the tea commerce — together with samurai turned tea farmers and Hellyer’s personal ancestors — Inexperienced with Milk and Sugar presents not solely a social and commodity historical past of tea in the USA and Japan but additionally new insights into how nationwide customs have profound if typically hidden worldwide dimensions,” says the outline.
Tea fanatics would possibly already know that every one tea comes from one plant: Camellia sinensis. (Drinks made from steeped leaves that are not from this plant are known as natural teas or tisanes.) The kind of tea — for instance, inexperienced, black, or oolong — varies by the extent of oxidization the leaves endure. The pleasant inexperienced tea class is the least oxidized, making it a simple level of entry for brand new tea-drinkers.
Solely 100 friends can attend this occasion, so it is very important RSVP forward of time. The primary 60 attendees to reach will “obtain a candy deal with,” based on the e-newsletter. Though it’s technically free, there’s a recommended donation of $5 per individual on the door.
